NDP leader Adrian Dix’s flip-flop on the proposed $4.1-billion Kinder Morgan oil pipeline was a “disaster” that was a factor in the outcome of the provincial election, says Tom Sigurdson, head of unionized trades in B.C.

Sigurdson said he believes Dix’s change in position was a key moment in the election, and changed the voting decision of at least some of the British Columbia members of the 23,000-strong B.C. and Yukon Territories Building and Construction Trades Council.

Unionized workers are generally counted on to vote NDP.

After Dix all but shut the door on the Kinder Morgan pipeline one week into the four-week election campaign period, Sigurdson said his office was inundated by calls from its members who were not happy with Dix’s about-face.

Dix had been saying he would wait until after Kinder Morgan submitted a formal proposal before making any pronouncements on the project that would carry crude from the Alberta oilsands to the Lower Mainland for export to Asia. The trades council wanted to see environmental assessments completed on resource projects such as pipelines before decisions were made, noting the project would create jobs in B.C. for its members.

“To arbitrarily change that, I think that sent a shudder to the investment community and through the labour community,” said Sigurdson.

“Our members build things. We build British Columbia. And if you have a change in policy, an unexpected change, it’s significant,” he said.

Before the election, the trades council had run a special edition featuring a photo of Adrian Dix on the front cover with five construction workers.

Sigurdson had penned an editorial in the election edition that noted: “The current B.C. Liberal government does not operate to the benefit of working people.”The trades council has long had complaints of erosions of provincial apprenticeship programs and the labour code under the Liberals.

“All of those issues are important to us, but quite frankly I think when you get to the ballot box you vote with your interest being your pocket book,” said Sigurdson, referring to the importance of jobs from construction projects.

United Steelworkers Western Canada director Steve Hunt also said he believed Dix’s position change on Kinder Morgan had an effect on the outcome of the election.

“It was probably a significant mistake,” he said, noting it created a question mark on how the NDP would handle resource development.

The NDP had already said they were not in favour of Enbridge’s proposed $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline in northern B.C., another project touted as creating economic activity and jobs.

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair acknowledged the change in position on Kinder Morgan was also a factor in the election’s outcome, but not necessarily a turning point.

“What it allowed the Liberals to do was characterize the NDP as someone who didn’t support jobs. That was the critical issue there, even though the (Liberals’) job creation record has been terrible,” said Sinclair.

The Liberals also ran a “vicious” campaign that included negative advertising, which appeared to work, noted Sinclair.

Kinder Morgan’s proposed twinning of its existing 1,150-kilometre pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby has attracted opposition from environmental groups, First Nations and Lower Mainland communities. Both Vancouver and Burnaby city council’s have passed motions opposing the major expansion project.

When Dix made the unexpected election campaign announcement, he said an NDP government would not support a major increase in tanker traffic in and out of Metro Vancouver.

The NDP leader pointed to the increase to 450,000 barrels of oil from the Kinder Morgan project from the existing 80,000 barrels. “That’s a real problem,” said Dix.

He repeated his position later in the campaign during a news conference held at Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver.

Dix’s campaign team was not responding to calls Friday, and NDP critics responsible for energy and the environment, John Horgan and Shane Simpson, could not be reached for comment.

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Dix’s pipeline flip-flop key factor in election outcome: union

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